Case study · 2026
Supplier Product Development & QC Workflow
Product sourcing needed more than a form; it needed a visible definition of what was actually ready.
- Shopify App
- React
- Node.js
- Shopify Admin API
- Discipline
- Supplier workflow · Product QA · Data validation
- Year
- 2026
- Engagement
- Fixed scope
- Status
- Live
01Context
- Track design, sample, and QC progress per product.
- Expose missing or invalid product data before approval.
- Simplify purchase-order screens while preserving important technical fields.
As the supplier portal became central to sourcing, Weldaad needed better visibility into whether each product had passed design review, sampling, countersampling, quality control, and data completion.
The original table contained useful information but did not communicate readiness clearly across large purchase orders.
HeapByte redesigned the workflow around product-development statuses, completeness indicators, and validation shared between Weldaad and its suppliers.
02What was in the way
- 01
Different edit permissions
Weldaad controls approval states while suppliers should still see their status.
- 02
Incomplete data
A value existing in a field does not necessarily mean it is valid; zero values also needed special treatment.
- 03
Large orders
Rows had to remain compact enough to review dozens of products without hiding status.
03Architecture
What we built, and what we deliberately left alone.
- 01
Product readiness state
Design, sample, countersample/QC, and notes are stored as structured portal fields.
- 02
Completeness engine
Required values are evaluated automatically and summarized at product and order level.
- 03
Shopify mapping
EAN item codes, inner/outer codes, pricing, and technical fields map to standard Shopify fields or metafields.
Delivery
- UI simplification
- Sampling & QC states
- Validation
- Barcode mapping
- Supplier testing
04Outcome
- New QA states
- 3 workflows
- Order visibility
- Progress badges
- Validation
- Automated
- Barcode model
- 3 EAN levels
Design, sample, and countersample/QC
Approved vs incomplete products visible at a glance
Missing and zero-value fields highlighted
Item, inner box, and outer carton
05Engineering notes
- Missing-fields summary
- The portal calculates outstanding required fields and surfaces a concise list before approval.
- Read-only vendor states
- Supplier users can see internal sampling decisions without changing them.
- Zero-value validation
- Required numeric fields can reject zero as an invalid substitute for missing data.
- Barcode hierarchy
- Item barcode maps to Shopify's primary barcode while inner and outer EAN values remain structured metafields.
What we took from it
- 01Data completeness should be calculated rather than left to visual inspection.
- 02Supplier-facing systems need clear ownership of every editable field.
- 03Status summaries are more valuable than exposing more columns.
- 04Product sourcing and catalog management benefit from sharing one data model.
Disciplines applied
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